


against all odds

by meggiewrites



Series: the someone waiting for me [2]
Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Boys In Love, M/M, Pointless fluff, That's pretty much the fic, Thomas is a dork, they elope, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 06:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18244253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meggiewrites/pseuds/meggiewrites
Summary: It's the 26th of March and Thomas is rocking back and forth on his heels. He can't remember the last time he's felt this nervous.Or, Manuel and Thomas get married after Manu returns from International Break.





	against all odds

**Author's Note:**

> I ... can't believe I wrote this fic. At first, I just wanted to keep it as a little headcanon, then I wrote it for myself and two of my friends (shoutout to Martha and E!) – then I realized that probably some of my readers/tumblr followers would enjoy this as well.
> 
> This is extremely self-indulgent and INCREDIBLY cheesy, but I guess that's expected from a wedding fic?! I'm quite sure this is not exactly my best writing, but that's beside the point ^^
> 
> Special thanks to Martha who helped me figuratively plan this wedding, and who I share this little headcanon with ♡ (if you read her [latest fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18190631) ... well, there might be some hints – maybe ;)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I've last been to a wedding when I was six. So uh, this is probably not an accurate representation of them.

Thomas is rocking back and forth on his heels. God, he can’t remember the last time he’s felt this nervous.

Upon first glance it’s a normal day in early spring, forgivingly warm, the air around him comfortable, welcoming.

He’s been waiting for fifteen minutes. Thomas is not usually someone to be early – on the contrary – but today is an exception. Stupidly, he didn’t calculate that the being early wasn’t a choice Manu was able to make, whose plane landed only two hours prior.

The location is a sleepy village at the fringe of Bavaria, only a stone’s throw from the Austrian border. He’s standing in front of the small register office in dark, grey-brown dress pants, a forest green shirt and a subtly patterned suit jacket in a lighter shade of brown. His handkerchief is white with a green border, and it’s a miracle no one has recognized him yet.

Thomas stops mid-motion when a taxi pulls up in front of him. So does his breathing for a second.

He hasn’t seen Manu since he snuck into the team hotel in Wolfsburg, so in their standards, it has been a while. Manu is freshly shaven, he’s wearing a nice, off-white button-up shirt with dark green pants and suspenders, his hair slightly more tousled than usual, adorned by – Thomas chuckles incredulously – a finely-woven flower crown made out of tiny white petals and dark green leaves.

Thomas can feel his eyes crinkle at his sight, taking a few steps towards him, holding out a hand for Manu to take. The taller entwines their fingers, and it’s downright adorable how excited he looks as he leans down to kiss Thomas’ cheek.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Thomas says, unable to keep himself from grinning wildly. God, he’s missed him. He loves him so much.

Manu pulls back, readjusting his flower crown, biting his lip. “Is it ... too much?”

Thomas firmly shakes his head. “You look absolutely beautiful, _Schatz_.”

He gets a beaming smile in response. “You too.” Manu tugs at Thomas’ jacket, tucking in his handkerchief. “Very handsome.”

“Yeah?” Thomas grins, “well, are you ready?”

Manu nods, his eyes full of determination. “More so than ever.”

Things at the register office are often fairly clinical, Thomas knows this as well as Manu; still, they’re both beaming once they step inside, unable to let go of each other’s hands.

Thomas feels giddy, and he sees the same emotion mirrored in Manu’s eyes as they wait for their turn in a small room that luckily hides them away from anyone’s sight.

He recognizes the woman who greets them ten minutes later by her voice – of course, their appointment isn’t the same as any regular one, so alongside their documents, they also had to send non-disclosure agreements for her and anyone else involved to sign after already making several calls. Frau Meier looks different than Thomas pictured her, tall, with short grey-blonde hair and a serious air to her; nevertheless, her smile is warm.

She shakes both their hands. “Herr Müller. Herr Neuer. Do come in.”

They decided to exchange the rings and their first kiss later, but already, Thomas’ hands tremble slightly as he takes Manu’s in his own while saying ’I do’ for the first out of two times that day.

He can feel himself getting a bit teary-eyed when he finally writes his name on the dotted line, his throat clogging up as Manu does the same.

Next to each other, their signatures couldn’t look anymore different. _Thomas Müller_ , his own reads in messy squiggles. Next to Manu’s neat cursive letters, it looks almost illegible.

He chuckles wetly when he he traces his eyes over his boyfriend’s - no, his husband’s! - signature.

 _Manuel Peter Müller_.

Manu’s legal name from that day on.

They can barely let go from each other long enough to get into the car, holding hands on the gear as Thomas turns the key in the ignition.

It was Manu who originally picked the location, but Thomas who drove up two days ago, making sure everything would be as they expected. The drive isn’t a long one. They hardly exchange a word, but each time Thomas glances over at Manu he finds him already looking at him, his eyes soft and filled with wonder.

After ten minutes, they pull up at a small car park where the road ends in the middle of a small forest, occupied by only one other car so far.

Leaning against it is a woman called Anna, a family friend of Thomas’ who is also a photographer. She’s grinning wildly as she greets them, Thomas with a hug and Manu with a polite shake of hand.

“Did everything go as planned?”

Thomas nods, grinning. “Yeah. Can’t wait for the real part, now.”

Manu rolls his eyes fondly. “Most people would claim that we’ve already done the ‘real’ part.”

Thomas grins, tilting his head up to kiss his cheek.

It’s a ten minute hike up until the spot that Manu deemed as perfect to exchange their vows. He’d discovered it on one of his biking tours, and Thomas has to admit that the view is pretty spectacular.

Luckily, as professional athletes, they barely break a sweat as they walk uphill, not at risk of ruining their attire, even though Anna next to them is growing a bit out of breath.

When they arrive at their destination, they have twenty minutes left to take photographs – it isn’t much, but Anna makes the most of it. Manu and Thomas giggle their entire way through it, almost tumbling to the dry ground once, just barely able to hold onto each other and preventing the fall and potential holes in their nice outfits.

Manu’s cheeks are rosy when the last member of their party finally arrives at the scene, his lips pink from the kisses they’ve giddly exchanged for the pictures. Thomas can’t stop looking at him, focused on Manu so much that he hardly notices the tall, gaunt figure joining them at first.

Father Jonas is someone Thomas knows from his youth. In fact, he used to be an altar boy at his church when he was a teen and Thomas remembered him a someone very polite, open-minded and helpful, so to him, he had been the obvious choice when it came to choosing a minister.

Pretty early, they’d determined that being wed by a catholic priest was important to both of them. To Manu even more so than to Thomas, the younger had found, but it was integral that they found someone both willing to marry a gay couple and someone they could trust.

Thomas is well aware that the priest probably only remembers him because he’s the only person in their village who ever made it to acclaimed fame – even if it was through football of all things – but it still evokes a smile when he noticed that Father Jonas has hardly changed at all, offering him a warm smile. His hand his frail, his hair thin, but his eyes still sparkle vividly.

“Thomas, my boy, how are you. Good? Good. And this must be your beloved, hello to you too.”

Manu offers him a polite nod, refusing to let go of Thomas’ hand. Father Jonas smiles.

“Well then. Shall we start?”

His speech is almost the same as the one he already heard during his first wedding, and Thomas admits he zones out a bit, focusing only on Manu – the way the wind is ruffling his hair, the way he listens attentively, his warm palms in Thomas’ hands. He looks extremely handsome in his wedding outfit, even if it’s not exactly a formal suit – it’s so _Manu_ that it instinctively makes Thomas smile.

He only gets pulled out of his admiration when Manu squeezes his hand more intently, curtly nodding towards Father Jonas with a smile teasing at his lips.

Thomas coughs. Ah yes, the vows.

They’ve decided not to write them down, and instead just say what comes to mind, whatever feels right in their hearts – nevertheless, Thomas has been thinking about what to say ever since they parted ways six days ago, and he’s sure that for Manu, whenever he wasn’t occupied with goalkeeping, it was the same.

Thomas takes a deep breath.

“Manuel Neuer – Manu. We first met on a warm Tuesday in March, not unlike this one. I remember how you were the only one already at breakfast - surprising, considering I know now that you aren’t a morning person at all - and well, me being me, I just had to go to officially introduce myself. You were quite cute with your wide-eyed look, flushed cheeks and even blonder hair, but I admit, at that point I would have never considered that we would now, nine years later, be standing here.”

“It was only years later that your charm entranced me in a way that simply a friend never could, when I realized just how beautiful you are inside and out, and that I never wanted to let you go again.”

“If you told me four years ago that I’d fall for my teammate, my captain, I probably would have called you crazy – if you told me that being with you would be what I want most. But as it is, I promise to always stand by your side, to cherish you and to keep you safe as good as I can. I want to be with you for the rest of our lives. I love you.”

He doesn’t even deny that he can feel the tears brimming in his eyes, but he smiles wildly as Manu rubs his nose, clearly getting overwhelmed by emotion, too.

Manu ducks his head, shaking it gently. His voice is wavering as he speaks, and Thomas uses his thumb to draw circles onto the backs of his hands until Manu looks up again.

“God, what do I even say to that. Thommy, I – I never thought I would be able to get married like this, to someone I want to spend the rest of my life with … to the man I loved. To you. I just love you so much and I still sometimes can’t believe it that I ended up this lucky. I love you too,” he chuckles wetly, “a ridiculous amount.”

He looks at Thomas with stars in his eyes, and Thomas has to hold himself back from leaning in already and kissing him before this is even over.

Father Jonas clears his throat.

“Well then. Thomas Müller, do you take the here present Manuel Peter Neuer to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

Thomas can feel his voice trembling

“I do.”

“And Manuel, do you take Thomas as your husband, as well?”

Manu sniffs, smiling so widely his eyes are barely visible anymore.

“I do.”

Father Jonas is smiling too. “Thus, in the name of God, it is my absolute pleasure to pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss your groom.”

Manu’s lips taste salty, and Thomas is unable to tell which of them is crying. It’s likely that they both are, anyway. Father Jonas steps away and he can hear the shutter of Anna’s camera taking pictures, but already after a fraction of a second, all of that fades, and the only things that matter are Manu’s mouth on his own, his arms around Thomas’ shoulders and Thomas’ hands on Manu’s waist.

(It doesn’t even matter that they almost forgot to exchange rings.)

 

Later, after Anna and the Father have bid their goodbyes and Manu and Thomas stand on the crate together, overlooking the dark green valley and the brown-grey mountains topped with snow-white caps, it finally starts fully sinking in.

Married.

For the second time in his life, Thomas is married. And no offence to what he and Lisa had, this feels – different. More. Thomas tightens his grip around Manu’s waist, and fiercely, desperately hopes that this time, the priest’s words will turn out to be true - that they will actually stand together until death does them part; him and this bumbling tall, strong, endearingly sweet, clumsy, beautiful, fierce, enchanting goalkeeper of his.

Thomas turns his head and observes how the dying sunlight tints Manu’s hair copper and his skin golden, and wonders how it must feel for him. It’s the second marriage for Manu too, but his first one was held under completely different circumstance – more pomp, more of a celebration; but after all, none of it had been real. With the two of them, they don’t need anyone else to make it feel real.

Thomas squeezes Manu’s waist. “C’mon, let’s go. It’s getting cold.”

Manu nods, almost distractedly, but lets himself be pulled along without protesting.

They walk the way back to the care silently, but side by side, as if the were attached at the hip. Thomas’ hand gently and unrelentingly rubs up and down Manu’s side, and Manu taps his fingers on Thomas’ shoulder along to an inaudible beat. Occasionally, they turn to look at each other, chuckling before leaning in for a kiss as if on command.

It’s only in the car that the mood switches from sweet and subdued to something else entirely.

Thomas is driving – of course, as only he knows of their destination – and suddenly, as they cruise through a forest that’s slowly being drained of colour, he finds Manu’s hand resting on his right knee.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glances over at Manu. His husband is biting his lip, his pupils blown. The flower crowns sits askew on his hair, which is so tousled from the wind that it looks as if someone had run their hands through it again and again.

When Thomas finally pulls up in front of a small but from the outside quite quaint mountain cottage that’s overlooking the valley, it takes all his willpower not to succumb to the desire to pull Manu into himself until not even a feather would fit in between them, to press him against the door and properly take care of his man in the way Manu so clearly wants him to.

Instead, he gently pushes Manu’s head away as Manu rubs it against Thomas’ neck, whimpering quietly.

Thomas chuckles and scratches his head. “Gosh, look at you. So impatient.”

Manu whines, then looking a bit embarrassed by it immediately. Thomas smirks. Good to know he’s not so far gone that he isn’t aware of how desperate he’s acting right now.

Thomas kisses him, advances that are eagerly returned by his husband, then pushes him away gently.

“Manu! Later, okay? We need to eat something, and well,” – he flushes a bit as Manu tilts his head curiously – “I had hoped you’d give me the honour of our first dance as a married couple.”

Manu snorts, now clearly shaken out of his aroused daze, but with a smile that is pulling wide at his lips and Thomas grins.

He unlocks the door with something akin to pride.

“Welcome to our honeymoon getaway.”

From the outside, the cottage might not look like much, but on the inside it’s a tastefully decorated, a modern, wide open room with a burning fireplace, a big couch covered in soft, luxurious blankets and even a few bookshelves. At the back, there’s a spacious open kitchen and a staircase leading up to a loft.

Manu whistles.

Thomas smiles. “You like it?”

“I love it!” Manu’s grinning, letting his eyes roam over the place.

“Good. Cause I’d hoped you’d cook for us?”

Manu’s laugh rings through the entire room, loud and full of life. It dissolves into quiet chuckles until he’s wiping his eyes, fondly shaking his head.

“Yeah, probably better. Would be a shame if we ended up in the emergency ward because of food poisoning on our wedding day.”

As a response, Thomas only pokes his tongue out at him and Manu gets to work. He smiles to himself when he notices that Thomas bought all the ingredients for lasagna. It’s his signature dish, and Manu feels warmth pooling in his stomach when he remembers the first time he cooked it for Thomas, shortly after they became a couple.

An apron lies carefully folded next to everything he needs to cook and he ties it around his waist, pushing up his sleeves even further so that they won’t get dirty.

After a while, he realizes that the suspenders are in the way, pushing them down and fully focusing on his work while Thomas is bustling around in the living room area.

He startles a bit when suddenly, there’s a slow song reaching his ears; if it weren’t for the fact that he’s a goalkeeper and that he Never Drops Anything, he might just have let the glass dish slip out of his hands as Thomas slides up to him from behind. Just barely, he manages to push it in the oven before turning around to his husband – his husband! – feeling his knees turn into goo with Thomas looking at him like that.

“Herr Müller,” – Thomas extends his hand, palm up – “can I have this dance?”

Manu replies by sliding his hand into his palm, letting himself be whisked around. He feels Thomas taking off his apron, pushing his suspenders back up. Then the younger reaches up to fix his flower crown.

“There,” Thomas murmurs before placing one hand on Manu’s waist as Manu settles his Thomas’ shoulders.

They’re both far from the most skillful dancers, and if it weren’t for that one dancing lesson they’d taken as a team building exercise back at the last Euros, they likely wouldn’t be able to do much more than swaying to the music.

As it is, they manage a few dozen steps – slightly out of rhythm, probably not that gracefully – before Manu slips on the edge of the carpet, falling right onto his butt.

They tumble to the ground in a heap of limbs, laughing and giggling. Thomas tries to pull Manu back up but quickly realizes he’s too heavy. There are wrinkles in his shirt and crinkles by his eyes, and Christ – Manu loves this man so much it makes him feel choked.

Thomas lets out one last cackle, smoothing his jacket before then deciding to pull it off entirely with a lazy shrug.

“Felt too hot anyway.” He winks, and Manu blushes as he pinches his cheek – and no, not the one that Manu’s blushing with.

In response, Manu only surges in to kiss him once more.

Somehow, they end up on the couch and only stop smothering each other with kisses when something smells slightly burnt. Immediately, Manu shoots up, rushing to the oven, cursing, one of his suspenders slipping from his shoulder.

Luckily, the lasagna is only slightly crispier than usual; still, he eyes it remorsefully as Thomas places his chin on his shoulder.

“Well, it still looks delicious to me!”

Manu has a slight feeling he might not be talking about the food.

Dinner is filled with Thomas’ comfortable chatter and Manu’s smiles, their knees touching under the table and holding hands on top of it. Thomas produced a bottle of champagne from good-knows-who, and while Manu usually highly prefers beer, he can appreciate it for the occasion. By the time they’re finished with their meal he’s had three glasses and is comfortably dazed. Thomas kisses him over the table and he takes like sauce and fermented grapes.

A bit later, they end up on the couch again, with Manu’s head on Thomas shoulder and Thomas’ hand in his hair.

“Hmm, Thommy?” Manu asks.

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“What’s for dessert?” He blinks up at Thomas, and Thomas licks over his lip, chuckling deeply.

“Well.” He gently angles Manu’s head to the side with a slight push of his hand, giving him space to gently nip at his neck before moving on to the sensitive spot under his jaw. "I had hoped you would be."

Needless to say, they make it to the bedroom in record time.

 

It’s in the middle of the night when Manu finally awakes on the 27th of March. They stayed up – well– quite late in the evening, and it's a ray of moonlight hitting his face directly that woke him up.

Manu feels the blood rushing to his face at the memory. Him and Thomas have never been the most abstinent of couples, but somehow, yesterday, everything had felt more intense, more real than ever before. Somehow, the cool and then quickly warm metal of Thomas’ wedding ring against his skin and the one his own around his finger and the knowledge that now, even officially, they belonged together, had managed to heighten everything.

Manu buries his face in Thomas’ chest with a smile, at first not even taking notice of the hand resting on his hair, that’s how used to it he is by now. He can feel Thomas’ chest rumble with a chuckle, so the lifts his head just the tiniest bit, placing his chin on his husband’s chest and blinking up at him.

Thomas is illuminated by the moonlight, each and every on his almost invisible freckles countable on his skin that shimmers silver in the bloom of the night.

God, he’s a marvel.

He’s is grinning widely, letting his hand slip from Manu’s head down his neck, settling on his shoulder, kneading it gently.

"Hey there, old man. Did the back pain wake you up?"

Manu scowls and Thomas immediately throws his head back and laughs.

"I’m just kidding. Happy birthday, my beautiful husband."

And as he leans down to kiss him and Manu closes his eyes in pleasure, he only thinks about how he's going to wake up to this every single day from now.

He can’t fucking wait.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats if you made it to this point! I hope you enjoyed this little fluff piece – and well, now you'll know why I'll start calling them husbands instead of boyfriends in most my upcoming stories.
> 
> I write FICTION about real people. None of this is intended to harm them or their reputation in any way. Please leave kudos and maybe a comment if you liked it! | [tumblr](http://manuelmueller.tumblr.com/)


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